Prime Minister addresses national meeting of the Canadian Labour Congress

(Ottawa) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed a national meeting of labour leaders from across the country in Ottawa on Tuesday morning, signaling the onset of a new era in relations between the labour movement and the federal government.

“We were happy to welcome the Prime Minister to our meeting, and to hear him recommit to repealing the former Conservative government’s anti-union legislation, C-377 and C-525,” said CLC President Hassan Yussuff.

On the refugee crisis, Yussuff added: “We have more than 130 labour councils and 25,000 union locals in communities across Canada and we’ve made it clear to the Prime Minister that we want to do our part in helping his government meet its goal to welcome and resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada.”

“We had a positive discussion and emphasized that we look forward to working with the Prime Minister and his cabinet on a number of issues that are priorities for working Canadians,” he added.

It has been over 50 years since a sitting Prime Minister addressed the Canadian Labour Congress, Canada’s central labour body. John Diefenbaker spoke at the CLC’s 1958 convention.

More than 120 labour leaders and representatives are in Ottawa for a meeting of the Canadian Council, a democratically elected group that governs the CLC between its national conventions.

The CLC represents over 3.3 million union members who work in every industry and live in every province and territory.